Set aside the emotions, the threats and twisting of truths that pulse through this week's visit to New York by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His presence, as unpleasant as it is to so many, is more likely to be helpful than hideous.
Ahmadinejad's U.S. speaking tour featured a controversial, televised speech yesterday at Columbia University. Today, he is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly.
The Iranian leader won't say anything new. He didn't yesterday: Knowledge is crucial, free speech essential, piousness supreme, Israel is the world's biggest irritant, and Iran wants peace, not nuclear weapons.
Behind his lines were damnable lies - he shamefully denies the Holocaust occurred. Falsehood, not fact, about the pogrom fit his hatred of Israel. Ideologues won't let truth clear their myopia.
But his speeches here aren't what is most important at this moment to the United States. It's what Bush officials ought to say to the Iranian government.
His visit should be used to highlight this imperative: Bush officials should talk with Tehran.
They should do so no matter how odious the opinions of its president - whose true power and popularity in Iran is debatable.
Bush officials should do so because Iran is at the center of some of the greatest threats and challenges facing our nation. The gravest risk comes from Iran's thumbing its nose at international sanctions and moving closer to manufacturing a nuclear weapon. A nuclear-armed Iran is an outcome to be avoided.
Iraq is a mess no matter what measures are used to assess the situation there. Iran is a big part of the problem because of its support to Iraqi Shiite armed groups that are attacking fellow Iraqis and U.S. soldiers.
Iran also is a major factor - and has been since long before Ahmadinejad became president - in much Middle East turbulence through its support of terrorist groups such as Hamas.
The clumsy U.S. mission in Iraq has bogged down America internationally and helped Iran to increase its regional influence and popularity among Arabs. Iran's influence and machinations in other countries put it directly in the way of important U.S. goals, including trying to leave Iraq with as much stability as possible.
There was a brief period when the Bush administration seemed open to direct diplomacy with Tehran on Iraqi security.
Talking with Iran as part of a regional diplomatic initiative to stabilize Iraq was one of the wisest recommendations made by the Iraq Study Group.
But recently, Washington and Paris, under newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have moved back toward isolating Iran rather than talking to it. Isolation has not been a successful tactic so far in defusing international security risks. Engaging in direct negotiations has shown promise in North Korea and elsewhere.
So let Ahmadinejad spew his best charm. Most Americans are smart enough to dismiss his misinformation. The United States doesn't have to like its enemies - but sometimes we need to talk to them.